Veda`s demise at NY Hinduja Ctr.

[witzel at HUSC3.HARVARD.EDU]

                         SAAVADHAANA PATTRA (#2)
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It seems almost too apposite to be true, but this time it is *true* indeed.  


Recently I drew attention to Columbia`s Hinduja Institute announcement of 
their ``Whose Veda`` symposium and their gradual shift from the original 
intent of studying ``Veda and Vedanta`` to very general, mostly religious 
issues of India. 

I could not have observed and predicted it more accurately. One or two
weeks ago we received the last letter of Columbia U./Hinduja Inst. lecture
series ``On the Veda and its interpretation``. The first sentence reads: 

         ``Dr. [Laurie] Patton opened the evening with a brief discussion
         of the seminar`s name -- the members present [Banos, Bryant, 
         Bulliet, Conrad, Dhungel, Hartzell, Magier, Mann, McDermott, 
         McGee, Patton, Tubb, Vaze] voted to change the seminar name to 
         The University Seminar on Indology.``

Q.E.D.


Have they already run out of Vedic scholars in North America?
(cf. below)


The trend seems to be even in violation of their own charter for the 
press announcement of Columbia`s Office of Public Information, May 
20, 1994, reads:

    `` Special study will be devoted to the fundamental teachings of the 
    Veda,the earliest religious texts in an Indo-European language, and the 
    later Vedanta, which offers a series of philosophical reflections on the 
    self, society and the universe.``


Incidentally, the speakers of the old seminar have included, according to
the Columbia Gopher (10/93- 9/95): 

     W. Halbfass, W. Doniger, K. Zysk, D. Pingree, S. Jamison, F. Clooney, 
     A. Aklujkar, B. Smith, V. Narayanan, N. Lidova, M. Deshpande,
     L. Patton, K.Plofker, V. Sharma,

and the topics haved ranged from Doniger`s by now famous(?)  Veda 
translations to Sharma`s <18th cent.> masonry instruments... 

To repeat: what about the Vedas themselves??


TO BE VERY CLEAR: I refused their offer last  fall to ``give the 
keynote speech`` in the seminar as I do not agree with their *new* goals, 
their policies, and their methods.

AND: I do not sell my birthright for a lentil`s dish of a score of $$$...



M. Witzel
Wales Prof. of Skt.,
Harvard University

(witzel at husc3.harvard.edu)